I would like to set up a system with a larger tank for tilapia. it is a good idea to remove them and let them clean out. I will remember that. my greenhouse is more of a shade house and screened to keep out the insects.

do you all think I really have a mid western sounding voice?

I was born in Chicago, raised by my mother and step father in So Cal. my step father is from Louisiana. I lived in Hawaii for 8 years where I got saved and then I went to school in Virginia and I like to live there when I am in the States.

Mid western would be our Illinois/MO back ground. MY immediate Nichols family is from St Louis MO and Springfield IL area and they migrated from Virginia and North Carolina in the early 1800's.

I learned that my grandfather had 6 siblings that he never spoke about. I am not sure if any of them are alive he was the second child and he was 96 when he died.

You really should stop talking about all that tasty fish. My mouth is watering. On Kauai (Hawaii) we had so many types of fish to choose from, that Talipia was a rubbish fish. Filipinos ate them (that includes me) when they caught them in the rivers. I am not too crazy about the ones available in the stores, they are much too small. I am used to having them with steaks as thick as an inch to an inch and a quarter.

Chette, you make me want to grow lettuce again. Hydro-lettuce is so much sweeter then ground grown lettuce.

A good replacement for lettuce, and it only takes 7 t0 10 days from soaking to harvest, is sunflower sprouts, I don't know how expensive (or if it is even available there) potting soil is but that is the growing medium I used. The soil is reusable if sun dried after it is used, to disinfect it. Another problem might be getting the sunflower seeds.

I know you can get mung beans. Sprouted mung beans (commonly called just bean sprouts) is another fast crop. Sprouts do take a lot of water though. I used black oil sunflour seeds. You can use the one for birds if you wash them before you soak them.

I grew some sunflowers (the big ones for seeds) but if the grasshoppers didn't eat them when they sprouted something in the ground ate their roots. I will try in the growing bed.

The upper tank is a hydro tank for lettuce and the growing beds are just pea gravel you can grow just about anything in it. I saw lots of aquaponic units on the net many of them are hoem made and doing quite well. I like this type of system as you don't need to mix soil, fertilizers, weed, or turn the soil. the grow beds are good for two years or so. the only work after building your system is to keep the pipes clean.

We don't have available here the type of floating foam for growing lettuce in the hydro tank I tried flora foam but it is not good too tight. Travis suggested dixie cups. don't have them but I didn't discover some small plastic type cups at the Medical supply the other day while picking up 4inch gauze and tape for my first aid kit. I will get some and try them with tissue paper for sprouting.

In one of our green houses (120ftx30ft) we had three different ways of growing. We had stagnent (where the nutrient water just sat and the lettuce grew on top; ebb and flow which speaks for itself; and I can't remember the name but the nutrient water flowed all the time. In the ebb and flow I had trays of chives in pebbles, basil in containers and I had a hugh Tomatoe plant that crawled all over everything. The tomatoe roots simply grew out of the seep holes from the container. I killed it before I got tomatoes because the plant was so healthy it wanted to kill everything else.

I think it was NFT, Nutrient film Tecnic.

It was a lot of work. Several times the aphids got established and we lost whole crops of lettuce and cilantro. (Our main crops.)

We had to find different ways to sprout things. Hawaii is so humid, if you missed one rinse (watering ) of the sprouts they rotted. I could not sprout in a jar.

What seeds do you sprout?

Don't make that greenhouse too big. Better two small ones. We tried lady bugs but the lizards ate them. I think mostly they drowned.

yeah my green house wont be more than 10x20 foot. Praying mantis is one way they come into the house at night I catch them and put them in the "screen house".

yeah if you forget to rinse the sprouts they will rot. Mung beans, red beans, black beans are my regular sprouts. no one eats them except me. I found some large sunflower seeds at the feed store I will try and grow some. but they make great sprouts to eat as well.

yeah, the problem with ladybugs is the gecko's eat them. another good thing for aphids is Ivory soap diluted down in water sprayed on the underside of the leaves. I just spray the whole thing. but you must rinse your veggies good or they will taste like soap.

Just arrived from Bacolod (for a Christian Educator's Convention), and we ate in an eatery where they cell "organic foods" at a very cheap price. They had their own garden and they cook their "no-fertilizer" products.
I'm so inspired to start building a greenhouse are planting my own garden. One problem, all I know is how to water the plants.

that is why aquaponics is for you. and they get watered automatically (if no brown out). I bought a 12volt pump for that reason and already had to use it when that last hurricane went through here two days ago. we had no power for over 24 hours.

totally organic system with no chance of e-coli contamination from making your own natural fertilizers from cow, goat, chicken and pig manure. no tilling the soil, no weeding just add some water to it once a week and clean some pipes as needed.

Like I said the hardest work was cutting the drums and making the stand. it is fun to watch. Everyone who goes by looks and wants to know what it is. many think it is a water purifier.

Practice like this. Dig a hole in the ground, crumble all the clumps, make a small hill and poke six holes in the mound, drop a long bean seed in each hole and pull dirt over the seeds. Press firmly so seeds have to struggle a little bit to see sunlight. Water, everyday. Walla! The Lord giveth the increase. Just like the Gospel, right?